Time Management

Jul 11

Asking a writer how close their book is to being done is like asking an artist how close their painting is to being ready, or a computer programer how much time they need to finish a project. You cannot put a timeframe on creative output. It’s done when it’s done.

I’m sure once I’ve written multiple books, I will have a better gauge, but for now, I have no way of knowing how long or how close I am. I can estimate, I can work towards a given timeline, but until I’m in my final stage of editing (fixing grammer, not content), I won’t really know.

Apr 30

Now that I’ve been writing for 6 weeks (crazy, I know), I’ve managed to hammer down my schedule. So I thought I would have a follow-up to my typical day.

8:00 – wake up; make coffee; tidy the house; read a couple of chapters from whatever book I’m reading

9:00 – sit down in front of the computer; read blogs and email; respond to email/comment on blogs; add a tweet or two

10:00 – start writing

12:00 – lunch

12:45 – reread what I’ve written and write some more

3:00 – write a blog post; check twitter; search for new blogs to follow; brainstorm for future ideas

4:30 – do some more writing

6:00 – work out

7:00 – make dinner

8:00 – watch tv

10:00 – read a few more chapters; go to bed.

So you can see that writing is only part of the job. In fact, only about 4-6 hours of my day are spent writing. The rest of my time is spent networking and following the industry. Sometimes this includes reading books, checking out predictions for where the market is headed, watching teenager-aimed television shows to better understand my target audience (if you haven’t checked out Dance Academy, do it. It’s been my favorite find), reading news articles to give me inspiration for future ideas, etc. And I know that when I get to the proper editing stage, my schedule will change even more and it will include fewer hours of actual writing.

What this also shows is that if you cannot write full-time, you can still write a novel. You just have to be more selective about which aspects of the job you focus on. When I was working full-time, I cut most of the non-writing tasks from my writing life. With my limited time, they just didn’t make sense. Now that I have the time to really make writing my proper job, I can more easily justify all of the extras that go into a writing career.

How much time do you spend writing a day or a week?

Mar 26

The windy road

I’ve finished my first week as a full-time writer. I know a lot of people have asked me what that means, how I will spend my time. So I thought I’d start a little series on being a full-time writer. As you will see, my first week did not go that well, but I’m hoping the second week will be better.

Day 1

OK, day 1 was a huge flop, as you will see if you read my post from last week, Diving In, or Taking Baby Steps. So day 1 was spent waiting for Comcast, nursing a migraine, dealing with the broken radiator, and researching claw foot tub storage solutions, as well as placing a massive order on Amazon for all of the things we will need in our new apartment. I did manage a little bit of work related stuff though – I reread chapter 1 of my WIP and I wrote a blog post. This day definitely did not go the way I imagined it would, but I suppose it could have been worse.

Day 2

Day 2 was not all that much better than day 1, and I realized pretty quickly that I am taking more of the baby steps approach as opposed to diving right in. I am going to blame the move on this one. So day 2 I took a walk around the neighborhood to try to help the headache, checked out the twitter sphere, read some of the blogs I follow, tried to donate blood but was rejected because of a recent trip to Roatan, bought some more things for the new apartment (gotta love The Container Store) and then I got to real work. If by real work I mean cleaning up my social networking sites. I went through Goodreads and added reviews and ratings to books I’ve read this year and then sorted through my to-read list to see what competition is out there for my WIP. I then did some tweeting to try to get my presence back up there. And then I sat down to read Julia Karr’s TRUTH. The best part about being a full-time writer – reading now counts as research.

Day 3

Today started with the best intentions. I cleaned up Twitter and added some tweets. I read some blogs. And then more move related things took over. It is really amazing how distracting an unfurnished apartment can be.

Day 4

Much like day 3, only I did manage to finish reading over my current WIP and started adding some new content. Still, I’m beating myself up about my lack of progress. But maybe it was a bit ambitious to think I could move to a new city and just dive into writing.

Day 5

The fiance and I took the day off to just spend sometime doing the things we need to do to get the apartment ready. We also went on a hunt for a chair so we could at least have a comfortable place to sit. This did not go well.

Week One Wrap Up

As you can see, my first week as a full-time writer was a bit of a flop. I did start a side project for a writing contest over the weekend though (details to come in a later post) and I saw The Hunger Games movie. I have high hopes that week 2 will be a bit smoother, if for no other reason than that we will (fingers crossed) have furniture.

Jun 14

Photo courtesy of Robbert van der Steeg

I know I’ve posted about time management before, but since it’s slipping away from me again, I figured it might be slipping away from you again as well.

Managing your time as a writer

Now that summer is upon us, it seems even more difficult to manage my time. The winter was pretty dreary, so now I want to enjoy the sun whenever I can get it. Plus, I’m a bit sick of staying indoors. But I’ve also missed my self-imposed deadline, so something has to give.

The good thing about the summer is longer days and bad t.v. Because the days are longer, I feel like I have more time to get things done. But I also feel more inclined to go out instead of hanging around. When I am hanging around the house, there is little television distraction because, let’s face it, with the exception of Doctor Who and HBO’s new series Game of Thrones, there really isn’t that much going on in the world of the boob-tube. But the warmth and long days call me outside with a book and I find myself losing my entire day to reading or taking walks or dreaming up summery things to eat.

Reimposing the 15-minute rule

OK, the 15-minute rule doesn’t mean that everything gets only 15 minutes of my time. It’s more the general principal, meaning I have to give myself time limits for things. Example: I can read for an hour or x-number of chapters. I can watch 1 television show. I can spend 1-hour at the gym. And, most importantly, I must spend 30-minutes minimum each day writing. Of course, fitting those 30-minutes in is hard – I want to read outside. I have to eat dinner. The fiance comes home and wants to watch Dr. Who. And then it’s time for bed.

And this is where looking at writing as a job comes in. Because I want to get a book out there, I have to treat it like I treat my 9-5. Sure, some days I would rather sit home and read a book or hang out with friends or take a vacation instead of going to work, but I go to work because I have to. I have people to answer to and I commitments I made. I have deadlines and people that are relying on me. So I put aside the things I want to do and take care first and fore-most of the things I have to do. And that is how I have to look at writing. Even on the days where I feel drained of creativity, I must write. Because if you aren’t writing, you aren’t a writer.

How do you manage your time? Do you set up appointments with yourself? Do you treat it like a job? Do you have someone who holds you accountable for your time?

Feb 07

A few weeks ago I read in a woman’s magazine (not sure which one) that it takes 66 days to make something a habit. The article was talking more about dieting, or exercising, or flossing your teeth. But in reading it, I couldn’t help but wonder if writing couldn’t also be applied to this.

I know I’ve talked about 750words.com before. Since my last post on the subject, I’ve been using it a lot – I’ve entered almost 20,000 words into the site. And I’ve got to say, it’s growing on me.

Making Writing a Daily Habit

Since February is the shortest month of the year, I decided to join the 750words.com 1-month challenge, where I will write 750 words a day for the entire month. I figure if I succeed, I will have reached day 28 in the 66 days needed to form a habit. And once I’ve hit my 28th day, what’s to stop me from writing for 38 more days? And if I manage to do this, will I have succeeded in making writing a daily habit? I hope so.

So far I am on day 7. Not long, I know. But I already feel the need to sit down and get my writing done. And it really is surprising how fast it is to write 750 words. My best time, earning me the Speedy Typist badge, is 12 minutes, but I average closer to 15. In 15 minutes a day, I can write 750+ words. Not too shabby.

My 750 words are not stellar, I know this. But I’m still on the rough draft stage of my book (and I’m almost done). My only concern with the 1-month challenge is that I will finish my first draft before the month is over. But then, is this really a bad thing?

Do you think I can finish the challenge? Do you think I can turn daily writing into a habit? Have you turned daily writing into a habit? How do you fit your writing time in? Is 15 minutes a day enough time? Or do you need more time to write a first draft?

Jan 23

January is almost over, meaning we are about 1/12 of the way through 2011. And so far 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty busy year.

In 2011, I’m planning the following:

Reading 100 books (I joined the GoodReads group 100+ books in 2011. You should check it out. You should also check out Writer’s Block NZ Blog, where I learned about this GoodReads group)
Getting a submission worthy manuscript out the door
Running a 5k in April (meaning lots of training building up to it)

And then, of course, there’s going to work every day, my trip to Europe (on it as you read), moving to an apartment with a better view in March, participating in a wedding in May, regularly updating my blog, and all the other things that come with life.

So how to make time for my writing?

I work best under pressure. I’ve always been that way. The reason for this is that being overbooked (a.k.a. under pressure) forces me (and most people) to create schedules. If you know you only have x hours to do something, you find a way to get it done. And that is what I’ve been doing with my writing.

NaNoWriMo helped a lot, reminding me that I can write every day. And now that I am using 750words.com, I’ve found additional help in scheduling my writing time.

I look at writing time the same way I look at gym time. If you get into the habit of doing something at the same time everyday, it no longer seems like work. It becomes something you just do. Similar to making it to your 9-5 every day. If you treat writing like a job, which you need to do if you have dreams of being a professional writer, then you can find a way to schedule it in.

My schedule may be pretty booked. But a little organization and the creation of a routine can make all the difference between finding time to write your first book or spending your days talking about writing a book.

How do you make time for writing? Do you write every day? Do you write at a specific time of day? Do you sacrifice other things to fit in writing time?

Jan 03

Meeting a daily word count was easy during NaNoWriMo, or easier. Now that November is long gone, I’ll be the first to admit that my daily word counts are suffering.

Why is it easier to meet daily word counts during NaNoWriMo?

NaNo is only a month long. It’s easy to put your personal life aside for one month. Plus, there’s a score of other people also sacrificing their lives for the common goal of 1,667 words a day. But for me, the progress bar was what really helped. I didn’t want to miss a day and risk falling below the ‘where you should be’ line. And so I stayed up an extra hour, or spent my lunch hour writing, or skipped the gym here and there. And then November ended, and so did many of my sacrifices.

How to keep that momentum going?

Recently, I learned about an online program called 750words.com. What’s great about 750words.com is that, like NaNo, it tracks your daily word counts. Unlike NaNo, the daily goal is more realistic for every day writers – only 750 words. Additionally, you write directly into the program and the program tracks not only your word counts, but how quickly you reach your word count, the tone of your writing, common topics, commonly used words, etc. Not only are the stats fun, but knowing that I’m being timed keeps me from wandering to other websites or just plain wandering.

In keeping with the recent trends in mobile gaming, you can also earn badges for things like reaching your word count several days in a row or reaching your word counts in a timely fashion. Plus, there is a community surrounding the site, so you can follow other writers, like you would with NaNo. And every month offers members the chance to participate in a monthly challenge where you are challenged to reach your word goal every day of the month. Winners are added to the Wall of Amazingness whereas losers find themselves on the Wall of Shame and remain there until successfully winning a month challenge.

The one negative is that you have to write on the site. Whereas with NaNo you just entered in your new word count for the day, 750words determines your word count and typing speed based off of how much you write into the text box that is provided when you login for the day. You can always just copy and paste the text into your own word processor, or use the sites text exporter, but if you have a hard time focusing in an unfamiliar environment, this could pose a problem.

The site also archives your writing. While I have no problem with this and actually like the idea of having a backup sitting in cyberspace, I know this could makes some writers uncomfortable.

If you are looking for a way to get your writing momentum back, though, why not give 750words a try? The worst you’ll get out of it is an additional 750 words. The best you’ll get is a new time management/motivation tool. If you give it a try, or if you are already using 750words, what do you think of it as a writing tool?

Dec 12

Ok, I know. Weird topic for a writing blog. What does a Rumba have to do with anything? Wait for it though, it’s coming.

House cleaning is a time suck, especially vacuuming (loud groan at the thought). Now, I could just skip it altogether, but I live with a cat who likes to scatter litter from here to the North Pole. And he’s long-haired. And I’m long-haired. And I write from home. I think you’re getting the idea. Ignoring housework isn’t really an option.

So in comes the Rumba. As I type this blog post, the Rumba is in the living room doing my housework for me so I can write this blog post for you. Later when I head to the gym, the Rumba will go to town on the bedroom/office, meaning I can justify my gym time. If the place magically gets clean while I’m working out, it’s not like I sacrificed writing time. I actually saved writing time.

Now if they would come out with a pick my clothes up and put them in the laundry hamper/dresser drawers robot I’d be all set.

How do you make time for writing? Are there things you skimp on to give yourself some extra time?

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My Life as a Full-time Writer: Week 6

My life as a full-time writer: week 1